Three New Residents Join Wegmans School of Pharmacy

This summer, three new residents will begin in the Wegmans School of Pharmacy’s year-long pharmacy residency program, gaining real-world experience in a vast array of clinical settings as consulting members of health care teams.

The program prepares graduates to become competent clinical pharmacists through these experiences, and the residents are eligible to participate in a wide range of elective rotations based on their areas of professional interest.

This year’s residents include:

• Chieh (Jen) Chen, PGY-2 in Ambulatory Care at Upstate University Hospital’s Upstate Health Care Center/Wegmans School of Pharmacy under the guidance of Dr. Elizabeth Phillips.
• Tenzin Legdup, PGY-2 Infectious Disease resident at St. Joseph’s Health and Wegmans School of Pharmacy under the guidance of Dr. Lisa Avery.
• Jennifer Rafferty, PGY-2 in Ambulatory Care at Rochester Regional Health/Wegmans School of Pharmacy under the guidance of Dr. Alex DeLucenay.

For the residents, each day is unique as they are provided the opportunity to rotate through different clinics and settings throughout their hospitals.

Chen graduated from St. John’s University and completed her PGY-1 residency at Upstate University Hospital. She said the supportive ambulatory care team and progressive practices at Upstate encouraged her to stay for the second residency year.

“Moreover, the affiliation with the Wegmans School of Pharmacy presents an unparalleled introduction to academia through student lectures, preceptorship, and leadership workshops and meetings,” she said. “With an impressive variety of clinics and specialty pharmacy services, this program provides the opportunity and flexibility to tailor the schedule to my specific interests in diabetes, anticoagulation, and pharmacogenomics.”

Chen’s short-term goals include becoming BCCP and BCACP certified, which would ultimately help her achieve a long-term goal of becoming a faculty preceptor and managing her own clinic with collaborative drug therapy management agreements in an underserved area. She believes the PGY-2 will support her growth in becoming a leading practitioner equipped with the necessary clinical, teaching, leadership and research expertise to expand the profession of pharmacy.

Legdup earned his Pharm.D. from Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. He completed his PGY-1 Pharmacy Residency at United Health Services Hospitals in Johnson City, New York. He is engaged in a PGY-2 infectious disease residency at St. Joseph’s Health and Wegmans School of Pharmacy.

Legdup has a passion for antimicrobial stewardship. He believes antibiotics are a shared resource and their judicious use is imperative in order to keep these valuable tools available for future generations. He also has an interest in academia and looks forward to the exposure in educational opportunities both in-house and at the Wegmans School of Pharmacy.

Upon completion of his specialty training, he plans on obtaining board certification in infectious disease and hopes to pursue a clinical specialist position at an academic medical center.           

Rafferty earned her Pharm.D. degree from the University at Buffalo School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. After graduation, she practiced in the community setting for several years in Seattle, Washington before returning to Buffalo for a PGY-1 Community Pharmacy Residency at Buffalo General Medical Center. She is currently the PGY-2 Ambulatory Care Resident at Wegmans School of Pharmacy and Rochester Regional Health.

Rafferty’s professional interests include utilizing collaborative drug therapy management to optimize patient care and outcomes, in addition to precepting pharmacy students.  Her future career goal is to practice as a board-certified ambulatory care pharmacist.